Apple accepts their system is fallible and not a substitute for conventional
passwords, says Rick Maybury

I read of a chump who got hold of a light bulb before switching it off. The result was he burnt his finger and thumb quite badly. With his fingerprints thus disappearing, how will he be able to access his fingerprint-locked device?

Peter, St.Austell, by email

Could you be referring to the fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 5S and new iPad Mini?

It has certainly raised some interesting questions and enlivened a small army of hackers, the fastest of whom took only two days to crack the system.

There is no denying that fingerprint recognition is a quick and convenient method for opening a phone and authorising transactions, but only in conjunction with other user details. Unlike PINs and passwords fingerprints are unique and cannot be cannot be guessed, but they are not completely effective as a single-point identification technique.

As you have indicated loss and damage to fingers can be a problem and we need not go into the less savoury workarounds used by villains in Hollywood movies, (or whether or not they actually work…).

The point is Apple accepts that the system is fallible and not a substitute for the conventional iPhone/Pad Passcode, which remains in place and allows an owner to access their phone if the scanner is damaged or their fingerprint is unavailable.